For a long time life on the meteor was boring for Dave to say the least. It was the same thing day in and day out, not that anyone really knew when it was day or night. It was simple at first; chill with Terezi, help the Mayor with Can Town, bicker with Karkat, talk with Kanaya, and sometimes Rose would come and psychoanalyze him or they would just simply have sibling chats. But that was before, now Terezi kept wandering off with the juggalo, Rose was always drunk and Kanaya was always there for Rose when she was drunk. Dave still hung out with the Mayor but even then he sometimes felt lonely.
Somehow Dave and Karkat had managed to become friends, best friends even. They still bickered and it was a trait both of them brought into their friendship. They also had 'feeling jams', they would also hug and cuddle a lot, and on more than one occasion Karkat had been confused and asked if they were pale (which Dave replied that he didn't do quadrants). Dave had called Karkat his best bro many times but for the past few months it gave him an uneasy feeling in his stomach to call him that, to call him his bro. Karkat would come and sit with Dave and whenever he gave one of those cute laughs and trills Dave couldn't help the butterflies. Not that Dave Strider ever got butterflies in his stomach like some middle-school kid with a dorky crush, no way.
It started slowly; Dave started noticing things he hadn't noticed before. How Karkat's eyes had filled out with their bright red colour, and wow, okay they were stunning. How Karkat tried to hide his smiles and laughs but Dave made it a mission to always make Karkat fail at his feeble attemps, and Striders never fail their missions. Dave used to make Karkat's face entirely red from anger before they were friends, before they could even tolerate each other but now he found that he could make Karkat red in a completely different way, a way that he preferred over the former. Karkat had difficulties taking compliments, his face and ears would go a bright red, his nose would scrunch up and he would fervently deny the claims that Dave made. It made it all the more endearing.
Right now Dave was wandering the dark halls with a certain passionate troll on his mind, he was sure he could hear two voices coming from the vents but Dave decided not to dwell on that. He was on his way to Karkat's room, the two had decided to marathon a bunch of movies. Karkat usually made Dave watch troll movies and the troll would go on long rants about the history and culture of the film and Dave actually tried his best to understand all the gibberish. Dave was trying to learn about trolls, he might as well know the culture and customs of trolls considering he was living with them and one was his close friend.
Tonight though, Karkat had asked Dave if he had any good human movie recommendations (romance of course). Dave wasn't one for watching romance movies but that didn't mean he was completely clueless when it came to them. He suggested a few to Karkat and the troll decided to alchemize them. They decided a time when they would marathon the movies and here Dave was, preparing himself for a long night of cliché movies.
He walked through the barren hallways with his hands in his pockets and the thought of spending an entire evening with Karkat made his heart warm. He turned down a hallway to his right that led to the troll's room and walked up to his door.
"Hey, Kitkat. Open up." He said as he knocked on the dull, gray door. He leaned against the doorframe as he heard some shuffling and a 'yeah, yeah, I'm coming'. The door opened with a groan and an excited looking Karkat stood before him in his oversized sweater and a pair of gray sweatpants.
"You ready for watching some boring-ass movies?" Dave asked absentmindedly while pushing himself off the doorframe and sauntering past Karkat. He heard to troll huff behind him and close the door.
"Although I already know that human movies will in no way compare to that of the high quality of troll films I have to tell you that in no way are romance movies 'boring-ass'." Karkat declared and Dave rolled his eyes behind his shades. Dave flopped down onto Karkat's bed in the corner of the room and leaned back against the wall.
"Please make yourself at home." Karkat said sarcastically as he watched Dave get cozy and pull the covers over himself. Dave sent him a sly grin and patted the spot next to him in which Karkat rolled his eyes and picked up his husktop and a bowl of popcorn he had made before Dave arrived. Karkat went to flick the lights off and turned to walk towards the bed.
"Ooooh, snacks. You do love me." Dave said as he spotted the bowl. Karkat flopped ungracefully next to Dave on the bed and set the bowl on Dave's lap. Karkat made his way under the covers and put the husktop in the middle of the both of them. He turned it on and put the disc of the first movie in.
"I don't want any snide comments from you; you will only talk if I ask you a question." Karkat quipped as the movie began to play; he reached for the bowl of popcorn and put it in between them. Dave made a gesture of zipping his lips and throwing the key away.
Soon enough, the movie ended with minimum remarks coming from Dave, Karkat shushing him and Karkat getting teary-eyed. The both of them had somehow ended sitting far closer to each other than before; their shoulders and hands were touching and it sent a thrill through Dave's spine. Karkat put in the next movie and by the third movie Dave started dozing off, he could only take so much 'I love you's' and cliché reunions of the painfully heterosexual and 'same physique as other romance movies' main characters. Karkat was sniffling beside him as the credits started to roll.
"It's just so beautiful but it's so sad. He wrote to her every day, and then ended up telling their story to her every day. I'm glad that they died together. This Nicholas Sparks author is actually pretty good, for a human." Karkat said in a wobbly voice, blowing his nose with a tissue.
By this point all Dave was doing was simply nodding at Karkat, he was half asleep and wanted nothing more to just fall asleep cuddling the troll. He could still feel the gray troll pressed tightly against his side and he could feel his body expand and deflate with every breath the troll took. It was calming to Dave; he didn't have any worries here. He let his head drop against the troll's shoulder and let out a long, relaxed sigh.
Karkat suddenly scrunched up the tissue in his hand and went very stiff. That made Dave a little more awake and he panicked, did he push a line? They had cuddled like this before, it wasn't anything new. Why would Karkat react badly to this? Dave started to sit up but Karkat's left hand, his free hand reached to grab Dave's left hand by the wrist.
"Wait." Karkat whispered in a voice far too soft and vulnerable for the hard-headed troll. Dave stilled and made no move to leave, waiting for Karkat to tell him what to do. The troll turned himself so he was facing Dave, their hands still connected.
"Dave?" Karkat asked in that soft voice, it made Dave's heart clench.
"Yeah, Kitkat?" Dave said in a voice that he tried to make sound calm and relaxed, it didn't really work though. His heart was a hummingbird and he knew something was about to happen but he wasn't exactly sure what.
"Can I ask you something?" Karkat asked nervously, biting his lip and fingers flexing against the skin of Dave's wrist.
"Anything, you don't need to ask." Dave said while turning his body a bit more so they were a reflection. Dave reached up to grab his shades from his face, Karkat had seen his eyes before and it was already dark in the room. Plus, a feeling in his heart told him that this was the right thing to do.
"What's love?" Karkat asked. Dave blinked. What's…love? He wasn't exactly sure he heard right but when Karkat saw his confusion he clarified.
"I mean what's human love? We're watching all these movies and the basic principles seem to me like red-rom but some of the characters' 'love' for each other is different and the main characters tell other people that they 'love' them too even though they aren't the main romantic interest." Karkat rambled, looking a bit sheepish. His red eyes flicked to Dave's. Dave paused to gather his thoughts before replying.
"Well human love is a bit of a mix of troll quadrants, actually. Although it's a lot more complicated than that. First off, there are different types of love. You can have familial love which humans feel for their parents, siblings and even sometimes really close friends. You love them because they raise you, they take care of you, they encourage you and they are the people you can always count on."
"Like your brother and Rose?" Karkat asked softly, knowing that it was still a sore subject for Dave.
"Yeah, like my Bro and Rose…Anyways, you can also have love that you feel for your friends. The people that you choose yourself, the ones who have things in common with you and the ones that understand you. Like John and Jade. You can also have romantic love which is probably the most complicated of all. Romantic love or 'being in love' is when you can see yourself growing old with someone and waking up to them every day. Doing your best to make them happy and understanding them. You can even have what humans call a 'love-hate' relationship which is a bit like blackrom. You can also have a type of love for beliefs or groups. Like a lot of people have unconditional love for one of the main deities which humans call God, or have a love for a culture or things like that. I'm going to quote a cheesy line but bear with me 'Love is giving someone the power to destroy you but trusting them not to.' Like I said before, love is basically a mixture of all the quadrants. It's taking care of someone, trusting someone completely, looking after someone, it can be being incredibly passionate with someone, being affectionate with someone, being able to have fights with someone and get over it, it's relying on someone, willing to help someone completely and being able to bicker with someone and knowing that it doesn't mean anything." Dave finished, a bit breathless. He hoped that he didn't make a complete fool of himself and he hoped that Karkat didn't think he wasn't good at explaining. Actually, Karkat looked deep in thought. Karkat seemed to realize that Dave was waiting and flushed. He took a deep breath and looked Dave in the eyes.
"For a while now I've been trying to figure out how I felt for you. You are so fucking infuriating and sometimes I want to kill you but there are other times where I think I feel pale for you. I just want to hug you and make you feel better. There are also other times where I feel red for you; I just want to kiss you and be with you. I've always expected 3 different trolls in each of my main quadrants but then you came along and fucked it all up. You're like the asshole that couldn't help but mess me up and make me confused about my quadrants but I think I know now what I feel for you. I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you Dave." He said with a thick voice.
Dave was stunned. Karkat was in love with him. For the first time in a long time, Dave had no words. His heart seemed to speed up and his throat closed up. Karkat must have taken his silence for rejection because he let out a quiet 'oh' and looked so fucking heartbroken Dave knew he had to act. He grabbed Karkat's wrist, much like the other male had done to him before.
"No no no no…Karkat. I...just…Okay, I'm just gonna get this out before I fuck this up more than Napoleon fucked up by invading Russia in the winter. Karkat, I love you too. A lot. I have for a while and I'm not gonna let you go." He said in a breathy voice. Karkat's eyes seemed to shine like the stars. God, he was beautiful.
"And here I was worrying for months." Karkat gave a loose but overjoyed smile. Dave smiled too and then he let out a few chuckles.
"We are so fucking ridiculous; here we are like the people in your movies. Jesus Christ." Dave gasped out, laughs still pouring from his lips and soon Karkat's laughs and trills joined in. They both were out of breath by the end of it and grinning at each other like a bunch of idiots.
"So I guess we should kiss now, huh?" Dave asked, a warm feeling all over his body.
"I think that'd be best." Karkat replied before lunging forward and stopping a few inches before Dave's face. The two sets of bright red eyes were alight. Dave leaned forward and pressed against Karkat's soft lips. He let out a soft sigh when Karkat's lips pressed back.
Karkat shifted so he settled in Dave's lap with his legs on either side of his hips. Dave wrapped one arm around Karkat's hips and the other around the middle of his back to pull him closer. Karkat slipped one hand in Dave's blonde hair and the other around his neck. They sat there for a few minutes kissing and basking in each other's glow. They soon realized that they actually had to breathe more than little gasps of air and broke away grinning. Karkat searched Dave's face and ran his hands through the blonde's hair.
"We should have done this a long time ago." Karkat said in a breathy voice
"I agree, past me was pretty stupid for not making a move. No one can resist the Strider charm." Dave joked and received a slap on the arm from Karkat. Dave grinned and pressed his face into the crook of Karkat's neck.
"Hey, Dave?" Dave could feel Karkat's throat vibrate with the words.
"Hmm?"
"Can we go to sleep? I'm pretty emotionally exhausted."
"Sure thing, baby." Dave felt Karkat groan.
"Already with the pet names?"
"Yup. Sorry, Kitkat." Dave smiled against Karkat.
Karkat slid off of his lap and Dave watched as he put his husktop, the popcorn bowl and Dave's shades on the nightstand. He then flopped down against the pillow and motioned for Dave to come. Dave wasted no time to join him. He pulled the covers over the both of them and Dave settled against the pillow. Karkat rolled to his side and Dave pressed tightly against Karkat's back, an arm thrown over his hip. He started drawing random patterns on Karkat's hip and the troll started purring.
"G'night Karkat." Dave said while already yawning.
"Goodnight Dave. See you in the morning." He replied, equally as tired. Dave fell asleep to the steady rise and fall of Karkat's body as he breathed against him and the gentle purring in the troll's chest.